Oxford, Reading and Aberdeen are the best cities in Britain to live and work
in, according to a new index of well-being by PwC and Demos.

The firms ranked 36 British cities based on a raft of measures including levels of income and employment, health, transport links, affordability of housing and the amount of time that people spend with their family.

Oxford was found to have the best overall mix of all the criteria.

Britain’s biggest cities including London, Liverpool and Manchester fell into the bottom half of the rankings.

This is because while the cities’ scored highly for their transport links and – in general - levels of income, they scored poorly in terms of housing affordability and the work-life balance or residents.

PwC and Demos said the research shows that quality of life is based on more than purely economic indicators.

“While Britain’s road out of recession is understandably causing policy makers and commentators to focus attention on quarterly GDP figures as the key indicator of our economic health, the analysis shows the UK public is increasingly taking a wider and more personal view of the components of economic success,” the groups said.